This chapter begins by briefly discussing juvenile transfers in California and how these transfers create a category of vulnerable individuals that the state, under its own statutes, simultaneously ...
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This chapter begins by briefly discussing juvenile transfers in California and how these transfers create a category of vulnerable individuals that the state, under its own statutes, simultaneously defines as children and as adults. It then calls for an end to the practice of transferring juveniles, primarily youth of color, to the adult criminal justice system. Indeed, the practice is indefensible given the developmental differences between juveniles and adults and the consequences juveniles face in adult courts. The chapter also argues for a full restructuring of the juvenile justice system. Detention should be reserved for those youth who have committed the most serious felony-level crimes. Finally, the chapter proposes reforms that focus on preventative, restorative, and rehabilitative initiatives for the vast majority of youth who have contact with the juvenile justice system, as well as for their families.Less

Fit to Be T(r)ied : Ending Juvenile Transfers and Reforming the Juvenile Justice System

Richard MoraMary Christianakis

Published in print: 2015-05-15

This chapter begins by briefly discussing juvenile transfers in California and how these transfers create a category of vulnerable individuals that the state, under its own statutes, simultaneously defines as children and as adults. It then calls for an end to the practice of transferring juveniles, primarily youth of color, to the adult criminal justice system. Indeed, the practice is indefensible given the developmental differences between juveniles and adults and the consequences juveniles face in adult courts. The chapter also argues for a full restructuring of the juvenile justice system. Detention should be reserved for those youth who have committed the most serious felony-level crimes. Finally, the chapter proposes reforms that focus on preventative, restorative, and rehabilitative initiatives for the vast majority of youth who have contact with the juvenile justice system, as well as for their families.

This chapter provides a critical perspective on the emerging developmental orientation of juvenile justice, particularly looking at the perspective that justifies treating youth differently because ...
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This chapter provides a critical perspective on the emerging developmental orientation of juvenile justice, particularly looking at the perspective that justifies treating youth differently because of their developmental differences. This perspective makes them less culpable and more amenable to rehabilitation. Indeed, in a relatively recent series of cases, the Supreme Court has held that offenders under the age of 18 were not only ineligible for the death penalty, but ineligible for life without parole for non-capital crimes, and ineligible for life without parole for capital crimes when no individualized assessment is provided. The chapter argues that juvenile offenders should certainly be treated differently from adult offenders, not because they are less mature or malleable but because empirical research shows that adult offenders should not be treated the way they are in the adult criminal justice system.Less

Why Should We Treat Juvenile Offenders Differently than Adults? : It’s Not Because the Pie Isn’t Fully Baked!

Mark R. Fondacaro

Published in print: 2015-05-15

This chapter provides a critical perspective on the emerging developmental orientation of juvenile justice, particularly looking at the perspective that justifies treating youth differently because of their developmental differences. This perspective makes them less culpable and more amenable to rehabilitation. Indeed, in a relatively recent series of cases, the Supreme Court has held that offenders under the age of 18 were not only ineligible for the death penalty, but ineligible for life without parole for non-capital crimes, and ineligible for life without parole for capital crimes when no individualized assessment is provided. The chapter argues that juvenile offenders should certainly be treated differently from adult offenders, not because they are less mature or malleable but because empirical research shows that adult offenders should not be treated the way they are in the adult criminal justice system.

This book's author's son Tim is one of the “6 percent”—an American with serious mental illness. He is also one of the half million homeless people with serious mental illnesses in desperate need of ...
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This book's author's son Tim is one of the “6 percent”—an American with serious mental illness. He is also one of the half million homeless people with serious mental illnesses in desperate need of help yet underserved or ignored by the health and social-service systems of the United States. In this moving, detailed exposé, the book describes how Tim and others like him come to live on the street. The text takes stock of the numerous injustices that kept Tim from realizing his potential from the time Tim first began to show symptoms of schizophrenia to the inadequate educational supports he received growing up, his isolation from family and friends, and his frequent encounters with the juvenile justice system and, later, the adult criminal-justice system and its substandard mental health care. Tim entered adulthood with limited formal education, few work skills, and a chronic, debilitating disease that took him from the streets to jails to hospitals and then back to the streets.Less

Paul Gionfriddo

Published in print: 2014-10-07

This book's author's son Tim is one of the “6 percent”—an American with serious mental illness. He is also one of the half million homeless people with serious mental illnesses in desperate need of help yet underserved or ignored by the health and social-service systems of the United States. In this moving, detailed exposé, the book describes how Tim and others like him come to live on the street. The text takes stock of the numerous injustices that kept Tim from realizing his potential from the time Tim first began to show symptoms of schizophrenia to the inadequate educational supports he received growing up, his isolation from family and friends, and his frequent encounters with the juvenile justice system and, later, the adult criminal-justice system and its substandard mental health care. Tim entered adulthood with limited formal education, few work skills, and a chronic, debilitating disease that took him from the streets to jails to hospitals and then back to the streets.